The Endless Winter
by fluffycat1979
Summary: Our fates are often imagined to grand and fulfilling. But sometimes, our fate ends in a much colder, crueler end.


The Endless Winter

No one knows how it happened.

One day, people were enjoying a nice vacation on the beach. The next day, they were huddled inside, away from the blizzards that got worse and worse with each passing breath.

This was common worldwide.

Every day, the news had a breaking story about some country that had been swallowed by the ice.

Apparently, it started in the North Pole as a glacier that appeared, literally, overnight.

It progressed south at an alarming rate, averaging about 50 miles a day.

In about a month, Russia, Greenland, Canada, and the northern countries were completely swallowed up under a layer of ice 10 miles thick.

Here in Japan, we had about 2 months before the glaciers hit us.

I just sat back during the initial period, thinking that the whole freaky nature stuff would blow over with time.

It didn't.

Every week, the temperature outside dropped by 5 degrees; even in the midst of summer.

Also, blizzards appeared infrequently.

You should have seen it, temperatures in the high 30's, yet blizzards came out of nowhere.

Abnormal things you only hear about, that was our reality.

That was June, a hot 30 degrees Celsius.

Now it's September, 30 below 0.

We are living on the glacier itself.

###

As I put on my jacket, I prepped myself for the journey outside.

Every single piece of skin had to be covered, lest you wanted frostbite.

As I stepped into the airlock of sorts, I did a quick once-over.

2 pairs of gloves, thermal underwear, boots, 2 jackets plus a third one, a ski mask with an additional face mask, 2 skull caps, and a scarf.

All good.

As I opened the hatch to the outside, I was instantly greeted with a blast of cold air that would turn you into a popsicle in less than 5 minutes without proper protection.

I stepped through, shutting the hatch behind me.

When I turned around, my nemesis was there to greet me.

The tundra of Japan.

###

Back when the glaciers were just starting to enter Japanese waters, the military started to evacuate citizens _onto_ the glacier itself, as there was nowhere else to go.

I was taken on one of the choppers that had to climb 10 miles into the sky.

These choppers were called "Deliveries to God".

A fitting name, I'd say.

When we reached the top of the glacier I saw my new home.

It was a hatch that was in the side of an icy hill.

Its' iron door seemed so safe when I stepped through it for the first time with the other scared refugees.

My parents were nowhere to be found, as they demanded that they stay with their home and personal treasures.

I had to sneak away in the dead of night, as they were intent on locking me in my room so I could die with them, I suppose.

Now I wish I stayed.

###

As I walked through the cold tundra, I had one mission in mind.

Kill those sick bastards who raided our little home in the ground.

They struck in the dead of night, when the temperatures were obscenely low.

It was -100 degrees Celsius.

I was asleep, when I heard screams from the upper levels.

I slept at the bottom level, where lone refugees without families slept.

The screams just got louder and louder, with the sickening crunch of bone and tearing of flesh one floor above me.

It was then where I quickly got under my bed, in some vain attempt to save myself from whatever it was that was above me.

The screams continued for about a minute, with gunfire dispersed in between.

Then they stopped.

It had to be the most horrible noise I'd ever heard.

The noise of silence, the horrible, ghastly silence.

Footsteps, slow and deliberate, were growing in volume near my door.

BANG

BANG

BANG

WOOOSCHING

My door flew open.

As I looked from underneath the mattress, I saw feet.

Barefoot feet, with the edges of kimonos filling my vision.

About 3 people entered the room, judging from how many pairs of feet I saw, and quickly left.

I heard them run upstairs to the hatch's entrance.

I heard the hatch open.

I heard the hatch close.

I heard the sound of silence.

###

They killed everyone.

Men, women, children, no one was spared.

There were 30 of us.

I was the only one that survived.

I was quickly reminded of that fact as I silently crept through the gore-streaked walls.

Bodies lined the corridor, with massive ice shards sticking out of their mangled chests and limbs.

I was sickened, and quickly ran to the airlock to go make sure that the hatch was closed.

It was sealed shut.

It was there when I decided that I needed to go kill those fuckers.

I was the only one left, and I sure as hell wasn't staying here, where all of those bodies decorated the complex.

As it was, I would die of disease before I died of starvation or freezing weather.

So that brings me here, in the middle of the icy tundra.

###

I must've walked for about 3 hours, having already lost all feeling in my fingers and face.

The sun was rising, but you couldn't see it from the amount of snow being blown into the air from the arctic blizzards.

As it was, hope was leaving me.

I knew there was nothing, but I left anyways?

All I did was trade a death for another death.

Yeah….that's all I did….

My body felt tired. I would've done anything for a nap.

I stumbled in the snow and fell into the soft, fluffy powder.

"Urgh..." I managed to grunt out.

I tried to stand back up, but my arms couldn't push me off the ground.

This was bad. I tried again, but I failed.

This was too much, too much…

…..so cold.

###

I awoke with a start, instantly taking in my surroundings.

I was in the middle of a massive icy cavern.

I also was chained by my hands and feet to a massive slab of ice that jutted out in the middle of the room.

I was very worried. Who the heck grabbed me out there?

It was then that I heard it, a soft female chuckle.

A pale woman in a stark white kimono stepped out from behind a pillar, her entire vibe that of a classical Japanese woman.

As I watched her come towards me, I noticed her eyes.

They were a pale blue, with no pupil.

It was then that I pieced it together.

"Wait, you, YOU! You're one of those people that attacked our complex!"

She gave slight smile, "Yes, I was part of that group. Yet…I'm surprised that we missed you."

"You killed everyone! WHY!?"

She again smiled, "You humans have been selfish for too long. You have taken everything from us youkai. That is why our Priestess used Jack Frost to freeze this world over, so that the humans would be eradicated, and that we snow women and other youkai could start over and rule this world."

"Youkai? Youkai exist!?"

She chuckled this time, "Yes, they have ever since humans have. Now, I'm running on a tight schedule in terms of raids and such, so you're going to have to be dealt with."

She flexed her fingers and outstretched one hand, putting her palm against my chest.

I really started to panic, "W-Wait! Don't kill me! I still want to live!"

She looked up at him grimly, "Oh don't worry, you won't die, and you'll just be displayed as a trophy in our grand palace, where the priestess lives."

I felt a cold like no other begin to seep into my body.

"Also," She added, "We'll use you from time to time for reproduction."

Then everything went black.

###

This is where I stand.

I stand at the limbo of death and life, unable to go in either direction.

This is my purpose. To be a trophy, a plaything, a tool.

This is a fate that no one should suffer.

But I'm afraid it's mine.

I must suffer the fate of an endless winter.


End file.
